Follow the Fleet

Another one of those musicals with silly, totally forgettable plots, this one involving sailors. Lucille Ball and Betty Grable make brief appearances, singer Harriet Hilliard is the second lead and Randolph Scott is there, wooden as usual, but of course it’s Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers who make the cash register ring. The saving grace is some great music by Irving Berlin, such as “Let Yourself Go” and “I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket,” and the dancing. But the movie achieves immortality for the final number, one of the very best that Fred and Ginger ever did: “Let’s Face the Music and Dance.” It is one take of almost three minutes, and it is sheer genius, poetry in motion, graceful and moving. One of the best ever.